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Mauritania Constitution

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Mauritania Constitution { Adopted on: 12 July 1991 } { ICL Document Status: 12 July 1991 } Preamble Trusting in the omnipotence of Allah, the Mauritanian people proclaims its will to guarantee the integrity of its territory, its independence, and its national unity and to take upon itself its free political economic and social development. Believing strongly in its spiritual values and in the spreading of its civilization, it also solemnly proclaims its attachment to Islam and to the principles of democracy as they have been defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 Dec 1948 and by the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights of 28 June 1981 as well as in the other international conventions which Mauritania has signed. Judging that liberty, equality, and the dignity of Man may be assured only in a society which establishes the primacy of law, taking care to create the durable conditions for a harmonious social development respectful of the precepts of Islam, the sole source of law, but responsive as well to the exigencies of the modern world, the Mauritanian people proclaims in particular the inalienable guarantee of the following rights and principles: - the right to equality; - the fundamental freedoms and rights of human beings; - the right of property; - political freedom and freedom of labor unions; - economic and social rights; and - the rights attached to the family, the basic unit of Islamic society. Conscious of the necessity of strengthening its ties with brother peoples, the Mauritanian people, a Muslim, African, and Arab people, proclaims that it will work for the achievement of the unity of the Greater Maghreb of the Arab Nation and of Africa and for the consolidation of peace in the world. Title I General Provisions, Fundamental Principles Article 1 [State Integrity, Equal Protection] (1) Mauritania is an indivisible, democratic, and social Islamic Republic. (2) The Republic guarantees equality before the law to all of its citizens without distinction as to origin, race, sex, or social condition. (3) All particularist propaganda of racial or ethnic character shall be punished by the law. Article 2 [Sovereignty] (1) The people shall be the source of all power. (2) The national sovereignty belongs to the people which exercises it through its elected representatives and through referendum. (3) No fraction of the people nor any individual may claim for itself its exercise. (4) No partial or total surrender of sovereignty may be decided without the consent of the people. Article 3 [Electoral Rights] (1) Suffrage may be either direct or indirect according to the provisions of the law. It shall always be universal, equal, and secret. (2) All the citizens of the Republic of both sexes, who are adults and possess their civil and political rights, may vote. Article 4 [Rule of Law] The law is the supreme expression of the will of the people. All are required to submit to it. Article 5 [State Religion] Islam shall be the religion of the people and of the State. Article 6 [Languages] The national languages are Arabic, Poular, Soninke, and Wolof; the official language is Arabic. Article 7 [Capital] The capital of the State is Nouakchott. Article 8 [Emblem, Seal, Anthem] (1) The national emblem is a flag with a crescent and a gold star on a green ground. (2) The seal of the State and the National Anthem are determined by law. Article 9 [Motto] The Motto of the Republic is: "Honor, Fraternity, Justice". Article 10 [Individual Freedom, Rule of Law] (1) The State shall guarantee to all its citizens public and individual freedoms: - the freedom to travel and to settle in all parts of the territory of the Republic; - the freedom of entry to and of exit from the national territory; - the freedom of opinion and of thought; - the freedom of expression; - the freedom of assembly; - the freedom of association and the freedom to belong to any political or labor organization of one's choice; - the freedom of commerce and of industry; and - the freedom of intellectual, artistic, and scientific creative effort. (2) Freedom may be limited only by the law. Article 11 [Political Parties] (1) Parties and political groups shall work together for the formation of the expression of the political will. They shall be formed and shall engage in their activities freely provided that they respect democratic principles and that through their objectives or by their actions they do not undermine the national sovereignty, the territorial integrity, and the unity of the Nation and of the Republic. (2) The law shall determine the conditions for the creation, the functioning, and the dissolution of political parties. Article 12 [Public Offices] All citizens may accede to public office or employment without condition other than those determined by the law. Article 13 [Presumption of Innocence, Personal Liberty, Privacy, No Violence] (1) All persons shall be presumed innocent until the establishment of their guilt by a regularly constituted court. (2) No one may he prosecuted, arrested, detained, or punished except in cases determined by the law and according to the formalities which it prescribes. (3) The honor and the private life of the citizen and the inviolability of his person his domicile and his correspondence shall be protected by the State. (4) All forms of moral or physical violence shall be proscribed. Article 14 [Strike] (1) The right to strike is recognized. It may be exercised within the framework of the laws which regulate it. (2) Strikes may he forbidden by law for all public services or activities of vital interest to the Nation. (3) It is forbidden in the areas of national defense and security. Article 15 [Property] (1) The right of property shall be guaranteed. (2) The right of inheritance shall be guaranteed. (3) The property of the wakf and its foundations are recognized; their use shall be protected by the law. (4) The law may limit the extent of the exercise of private property if the exigencies of economic and social development require it. (5) A process of expropriation may be instituted only when public utility demands it and after fair and prior compensation. (6) The law shall determine the judicial rules for expropriation. Article 16 [Family] The State and society shall protect the family. Article 17 [Duty to Know the Law] Ignorance of the law shall be no excuse. Article 18 [Duty to Defence, No Treason] (1) Every citizen has the duty of protecting and safe-guarding the independence of the country, its sovereignty, and the integrity of its territory. (2) Treason, espionage, and going over to the enemy as well as all infractions committed with prejudice to the security of the State shall be punished with all the rigor of the law. Article 19 [Obligations] Every citizen must loyally fulfill his obligations to the national welfare and must respect both public and private property. Article 20 [Taxation] (1) The citizens shall be taxed equally. (2) Each one must share in the public tax burden according to his ability to contribute. (3) No tax may he instituted except by virtue of a law. Article 21 [Foreigners] Any alien who resides legally on national territory enjoys the protection of the law for his person and his property. Article 22 [Extradition] No one may he extradited unless it is by virtue of the laws and conventions of extradition. Title II Executive Article 23 [President] The President of the Republic shall he the Head of State. He shall be a Muslim. Article 24 [Presidential Functions] (1) The President of the Republic shall he the guardian of the constitution. He shall represent the State. He shall guarantee, through his arbitration, the continuous and regular functioning of public power. (2) He is the guarantor of national independence and territorial integrity. Article 25 [Executive Power] The President of the Republic exercises the executive power. He shall preside over the Council of Ministers. Article 26 [Election] (1) The President of the Republic is elected for six years by direct, universal suffrage. (2) He shall be elected by an absolute majority of the votes. If an absolute majority is not obtained by one of the candidates during the first round of the election, there will be a second round on the second following Friday. Only the two candidates remaining in the election who have received the greatest number of votes in the first round may present themselves as candidates. (3) Any citizen born a Mauritanian, possessing his civil and political rights, and at least forty years of age is eligible to be President of the Republic. (4) The election commences upon convocation by the President of the Republic. (5) The election of the new President of the Republic shall take place at least thirty days and at most forty-five days before the expiration of the sitting President's mandate. (6) The conditions and the forms for accepting the candidacy as well as the rules regarding the death or incapacity of candidates for the Presidency of the Republic are determined by an organic law. (7) Candidacy papers shall be sent to the Constitutional Council which shall rule on their legality and announce the results of the election. Article 27 [Incompatibility] The office of the President of the Republic shall be incompatible with the exercise of any other public or private office. Article 28 [Re-Eligibility] The President of the Republic shall be eligible for re-election. Article 29 [Taking Office] The newly elected President shall take office at the expiration of the mandate of his predecessor. Article 30 [Competences] (1) The President of the Republic shall determine and conduct the foreign policy of the Nation as well as its defense and security policy.
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